As cable distribution systems progress from conventional analog and digital coaxial implementations to fiber optic based networks, cable distribution systems are increasingly becoming the main digital backbone that interconnects homes and businesses with service providers of many sorts. Cable communications networks now provide residential and business customers with all of their entertainment and communications services including broadcast analog and digital television, video on demand, HDTV, CD quality music, hi-speed internet, telephone, T1 services, 10/100/1000 Mbps native Ethernet services, etc. Therefore, the reliability of these networks is becoming increasingly critical. As competition mounts between cable companies and alternative service providers such as telephone and power companies, each minute of service outage experienced by cable subscribers is detrimental to the cable company. With the use of optical fiber route diversity in the network, downtime caused by fiber cuts can be mitigated by transferring signals from the damaged working fiber route to the undamaged fiber route. However, conventional route diversity systems require an operator to arrive at the appropriate location to physically switch from one fiber route to another.
Therefore, there remains a need for improved fiber optic route protection technology that provides for improved continuity of service (i.e., less downtime).